Dinners and Dimes

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The goal of this project was to blog everything I ate and the cost of food and drinks for a full year. The year is now over, so it's time to put down my camera. I wanted to take some time before writing a conclusion to this adventure. I was not easy, but I did have lots of fun.

I forgot my camera at home about seven times, sometimes asking friends to take pictures for me.

I got asked "why do you do this?" at least twice a year.

I learned how to take pictures without annoying others. It's all about stealth.

I almost quit about five times. But I never gave up.

I realised that I drink way, way too much Diet Coke.

I figured out that I don't go out as much as I tought I did, but that I spend more money that I tought I did when I do.

I found out that 60% of the broccoli I purchase ends up in the garbage bin.

I saw that I like peanut butter on toast a lot.

I also gained a lot of weight. I guess I wanted to produce more content and so ate more than I usualy do - and I have a big appetite to start with. So now I have to lose that poundage. Bah! Oh well.

So what next? I don't know yet. But I still take pictures of food and post them on my Flickr account. And I love to eat and explore. So follow me on Twitter and find out about my next project when it goes live. I promise it will be delicious.

I made chicken stock with leftovers veggies and all the chicken scraps I save in the freezer from week to week.CarrotI made pork chops and veggies for freezer lunchesI made hummusI also made beef shanks in the crock pot
As you can see, it was a rainy day. My fridge is now super full!

At five, I went down for cocktails and nibbles at Patrick and Nikki's. I had a martini, crackers, hummus I brought, baked cheese, grapes, almonds and olives.
Later, I had a few ears of corn with butter.
Aaah the taste of summer.

Chicken sandwich, Sunny D from the dep - $5.45Mac and cheese, salad, a piece of sausage from yesterday's leftovers, peppers, Jell-O with strawberries and Chantilly cream from the bistro - $6A gift of chocolate from our chefAfter work, I had dinner at Tay Do with Andréanne - $18 with tip
RollDumplingsPiece of Andréanne's fried calamariGrilled beef with soy beans, mint, noodles, peanuts and another rollBottle of Anselmi to go with dinner - $15.25
After dinner, we met a bunch of friends at Else's to say goodbye to our friend Onno, who is going back to live in Holland.2 pints of beer - $12 with tipShot of tequila, courtesy of Onno

Money spent on food

From August 24th, 2009 to August 24th 2010, I photographed everything I ate and made notes of the cost.

This included all the food and drink costs for the year.

And yes, I counted booze.

Grand total: $10 295.92

What is this blog about?

This is not a food blog.

Well, it kind of is. But mainly, it’s about the amount of money I use to feed myself, day after day. Why? Because I just don’t know. I (almost) never check prices when I buy food. I love to cook and I can easily feed six guests for less than 30 bucks (wine is extra, people), but I also spend ungodly amounts of money on grocery, then throw away a fifth of it. It has never been so easy to buy good food, but it often comes at a price. And it is even easier to buy cheap, unhealthy junk food that has an undeniable cost on our health. Where does my food budget go? How do the choices I make impact my budget, my health and the health of the planet?